Citigroup tries to regroup

Managers shuffle in turnaround effort

Citigroup Inc., reeling from a record fourth-quarter loss, reorganized its flagging consumer division as Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit tries to reverse a profit slide at the biggest revenue generator for the nation's biggest bank.

Steven Freiberg, who co-headed the unit, now will run U.S. and international credit cards, which accounted for 62 percent of total consumer revenue last year, the New York-based company said Monday. The rest of the group, mainly bank branches and nonbank lending, will be led in the United States by Terri Dial, hired from Lloyds TSB Group Plc, and four regional chiefs outside the U.S.

Pandit, who took over as CEO in December, is changing managers after the company's market value fell 52 percent to $111 billion in six months. Profit at the consumer division, which accounts for 70 percent of revenue, fell by a third in the fourth quarter, compounding more than $20 billion of subprime writedowns in the bank's trading business.

The bank's shares rose 59 cents to close at $21.42 in Monday trading. The KBW Bank Index of 24 stocks gained 2.12 percent.

"Unfortunately, I really don't think that reorganization of responsibilities is a big deal for Citigroup," said Charles Bobrinskoy, vice chairman of Ariel Capital Management LLC in Chicago, which owned about 680,000 Citigroup shares as of Dec. 31. "People are focused correctly on the mortgage portfolio, on big losses in leveraged lending, so who reports to whom in the consumer and regional banking businesses is frankly not what's gonna drive the stock."